Flaunt of the sunshine, I need not your bask ,—lie over!
You light surfaces only—I force surfaces and depths also. 985
[40.1]
Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands;
Say, old Top-knot ! what do you want?
[40.2]
Man or woman! I might tell how I like you, but cannot;
And might tell what it is in me, and what it is in you, but cannot;
And might tell that pining I have—that pulse of my nights and days. 990
[40.3]
Behold! I do not give lectures, or a little charity;
When I give, I give myself.
[40.4]
You there, impotent , loose in the knees!
Open your scarf’dchops till I blow grit within you;
Spread your palms, and lift the flaps of your pockets; 995
I am not to be denied—I compel —I have stores plenty and to spare;
And anything I have I bestow .
[40.5]
I do not ask who you are—that is not so important to me;
You can do nothing, and be nothing, but what I will infold you.
[40.6]
To cotton-field drudge or cleaner of privies I lean; 1000
On his right cheek I put the family kiss,
And in my soul I swear, I never will deny him.
[40.7]
On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes;
(This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.)
[40.8]
To any one dying—thither I speed, and twist the knob of the door; 1005
Turn the bed-clothes toward the foot of the bed;
Let the physician and the priest go home.
[40.9]
I seize the descending man, and raise him with resistless will.
[40.10]
O despairer, here is my neck;
By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me. 1010
[40.11]
I dilate you with tremendous breath—I buoy you up;
Every room of the house do I fill with an arm’d force,
Lovers of me, bafflers of graves.
[40.12]
Sleep! I and they keep guard all night;
Not doubt—not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you; 1015
I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself;
And when you rise in the morning you will find what I tell you is so.
[40.13]
40.
Flaunt of the sunshine, I need not your bask ,—lie over!
You light surfaces only—I force surfaces and depths also. 985
[40.1]
Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands;
Say, old Top-knot ! what do you want?
[40.2]
Man or woman! I might tell how I like you, but cannot;
And might tell what it is in me, and what it is in you, but cannot;
And might tell that pining I have—that pulse of my nights and days. 990
[40.3]
Behold! I do not give lectures, or a little charity;
When I give, I give myself.
[40.4]
You there, impotent , loose in the knees!
Open your scarf’d chops till I blow grit within you;
Spread your palms, and lift the flaps of your pockets; 995
I am not to be denied—I compel —I have stores plenty and to spare;
And anything I have I bestow .
[40.5]
I do not ask who you are—that is not so important to me;
You can do nothing, and be nothing, but what I will infold you.
[40.6]
To cotton-field drudge or cleaner of privies I lean; 1000
On his right cheek I put the family kiss,
And in my soul I swear, I never will deny him.
[40.7]
On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes;
(This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.)
[40.8]
To any one dying—thither I speed, and twist the knob of the door; 1005
Turn the bed-clothes toward the foot of the bed;
Let the physician and the priest go home.
[40.9]
I seize the descending man, and raise him with resistless will.
[40.10]
O despairer, here is my neck;
By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me. 1010
[40.11]
I dilate you with tremendous breath—I buoy you up;
Every room of the house do I fill with an arm’d force,
Lovers of me, bafflers of graves.
[40.12]
Sleep! I and they keep guard all night;
Not doubt—not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you; 1015
I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself;
And when you rise in the morning you will find what I tell you is so.
[40.13]
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